Storm basics: bread, milk, eggs

It's standard fare for last-minute shoppers, but what's the menu?

Stores throughout the Lehigh Valley on Saturday, the day before today's projected snowstorm, had people fighting for -- you guessed it -- bread, milk and eggs.

It's the same mundane shopping list that's carried to supermarkets from New England to North Carolina to Nebraska every time there's a storm brewing.

Yet the most anyone can make using just bread, milk and eggs is French toast -- without cinnamon and syrup.

Green eggs and ham would be better.

So why do people buy these same three staples, storm after storm, winter after winter, year after year?

It's more tradition and the need to feel safe than necessity.

Barry Brunst, manager of Kotsch's Market in Whitehall Township, speculated Saturday that the run on bread, milk and eggs occurs because his customers are older and remember being snowed in at home for days.

"Snow removal equipment wasn't so good back then," he said.

"The last storm," he added, "they seemed to buy more bread than milk. I don't know what they do -- freeze it?"

Pat Harrison of Allentown was stocking up on the big three late Saturday afternoon at Redner's Warehouse Market on Lehigh Street.

"There's lots of things you can do with eggs, bread and milk," she said. "You can make French toast, you can make egg sandwiches and even hot chocolate." (If you already have the chocolate, of course.)

Donna Schappell, a registered pharmacist and nutritionist at Hartzell's Pharmacy in Catasauqua, said the rush doesn't make sense from a nutritional standpoint.

"I think it's more something that our parents did and we're continuing to do it," she said. "If the power goes out, the milk can spoil. You can make a peanut-butter sandwich with the bread if you already have peanut butter.

"I'm not one who rushes out and shops. If I did, I'd buy more coffee."

Ziona Brotleit, a Bethlehem psychologist, said she sees the rush for staples as nurturing.

"It's built-in biologically to be self-protective," she said. "The weather reports produce the need for people to protect themselves. Food is one of the necessities, along with shelter.

"We learn from our parents. These were folks who went through the Depression. ... Milk was the first thing we ate. Eggs are basic and bread is a staple. We go for comfort, relieving anxiety.

"It's a nesting instinct, when children have to have milk. Of course, the woman's instinct is stronger than a guy's."

Harrison said her mom taught her to stockpile essentials.

"With six kids at home, you have to do a lot of shopping," she said.

The weather report that stirred Harrison to action calls for a nasty storm for the Lehigh Valley today, with as much as 11 inches of snow and ice, according to the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J. Eight to 16 inches are possible in the southern Poconos and northwestern New Jersey.

Of course, there were consumers Saturday buying more than milk, bread and eggs.

Harrison's daughter, Michelle Harrison, bought salt to prevent pedestrians from slipping in front of her house.

And Mitzi Calcagni of Allentown was at Redner's seeking something hot on a cold day.